How to sort by two values then a field by ASC in an array using usort() in PHP?

Question

I have parsed three different text files:

space.txt

Kournikova Anna F F 6-3-1975 Red
Hingis Martina M F 4-2-1979 Green
Seles Monica H F 12-2-197

comma.txt

Abercrombie, Neil, Male, Tan, 2/13/1943
Bishop, Timothy, Male, Yellow, 4/23/1967
Kelly, Sue, Female, Pink, 7/12/1959

pipe.txt

Smith | Steve | D | M | Red | 3-3-1985
Bonk | Radek | S | M | Green | 6-3-1975
Bouillon | Francis | G | M | Blue | 6-3-1975

I used the following code to parse all files into one array .............

<?php 

    $space_txt = './data/input/space.txt';
    $comma_txt = './data/input/comma.txt';
    $pipe_txt = './data/input/pipe.txt';

    $parsed_space_data = file_get_contents($space_txt);
    $parsed_comma_data = file_get_contents($comma_txt);
    $parsed_pipe_data = file_get_contents($pipe_txt);



    $space_array = myExpldeLoopFunc("space"," ", $parsed_space_data);
    $comma_array = myExpldeLoopFunc("comma",",", $parsed_comma_data);
    $pipe_array = myExpldeLoopFunc("pipe"," | ", $parsed_pipe_data);


    $finalArray = array_merge($space_array, $comma_array, $pipe_array);


    function changeGender($gender) {

        if($gender === 'F') {
            return str_replace('F', 'Female', $gender);
        }

        elseif($gender === 'M') {
            return str_replace('M', 'Male', $gender);
        }
    }

    function normalizeDate($date) {
        return str_replace('-', '/', $date);
    }









    function myExpldeLoopFunc($name, $sep, $data) {

        $parsedData = explode("\r", $data);




        $arr = [];
        foreach ($parsedData as $data) {
            $data_arr = explode($sep, $data);





            if($name == 'space'){

                $arr[] = [
                    "last_name" => $data_arr[0],
                    "first_name" => $data_arr[1],
                    // "middle_initial" => $data_arr[2],
                    "gender" => changeGender($data_arr[3]),
                    "date_of_birth" => normalizeDate($data_arr[4]),
                    "favorite_color" => $data_arr[5]



                ];








            }

                elseif($name == 'comma') {
                    $arr[] = [
                    "last_name" => $data_arr[0],
                    "first_name" => $data_arr[1],
                    "gender" => $data_arr[2],
                    "date_of_birth" => normalizeDate($data_arr[4]),
                    "favorite_color" => $data_arr[3]

                    ];
                }

            elseif ($name == 'pipe') {
                    $arr[] = [
                    "last_name" => $data_arr[0],
                    "first_name" => $data_arr[1],
                    // "middle_initial" => $data_arr[2],
                    "gender" => changeGender($data_arr[3]),
                    "date_of_birth" => normalizeDate($data_arr[5]),
                    "favorite_color" => $data_arr[4]



                ];


            }





    }



    return $arr;







        }








for ($i=0; $i < count($finalArray); $i++) {


foreach ($finalArray as $key => $row) {
$gender[$key] = $row['gender'];
$last_name[$key] = $row['last_name'];
}

array_multisort($gender, SORT_ASC, $last_name, SORT_ASC, $finalArray);

echo join(' ',  $finalArray[$i]) . '<br>';


    }

var_dump($finalArray);






 ?>

Now I have the following array ...........

array (size=9)
  0 => 
    array (size=5)
      'last_name' => string 'Kournikova' (length=10)
      'first_name' => string 'Anna' (length=4)
      'gender' => string 'Female' (length=6)
      'date_of_birth' => string '6/3/1975' (length=8)
      'favorite_color' => string 'Red' (length=3)
  1 => 
    array (size=5)
      'last_name' => string '
Hingis' (length=7)
      'first_name' => string 'Martina' (length=7)
      'gender' => string 'Female' (length=6)
      'date_of_birth' => string '4/2/1979' (length=8)
      'favorite_color' => string 'Green' (length=5)
  2 => 
    array (size=5)
      'last_name' => string '
Seles' (length=6)
      'first_name' => string 'Monica' (length=6)
      'gender' => string 'Female' (length=6)
      'date_of_birth' => string '12/2/1973' (length=9)
      'favorite_color' => string 'Black' (length=5)
  3 => 
    array (size=5)
      'last_name' => string 'Abercrombie' (length=11)
      'first_name' => string ' Neil' (length=5)
      'gender' => string ' Male' (length=5)
      'date_of_birth' => string ' 2/13/1943' (length=10)
      'favorite_color' => string ' Tan' (length=4)
  4 => 
    array (size=5)
      'last_name' => string '
Bishop' (length=7)
      'first_name' => string ' Timothy' (length=8)
      'gender' => string ' Male' (length=5)
      'date_of_birth' => string ' 4/23/1967' (length=10)
      'favorite_color' => string ' Yellow' (length=7)
  5 => 
    array (size=5)
      'last_name' => string '
Kelly' (length=6)
      'first_name' => string ' Sue' (length=4)
      'gender' => string ' Female' (length=7)
      'date_of_birth' => string ' 7/12/1959' (length=10)
      'favorite_color' => string ' Pink' (length=5)
  6 => 
    array (size=5)
      'last_name' => string 'Smith' (length=5)
      'first_name' => string 'Steve' (length=5)
      'gender' => string 'Male' (length=4)
      'date_of_birth' => string '3/3/1985' (length=8)
      'favorite_color' => string 'Red' (length=3)
  7 => 
    array (size=5)
      'last_name' => string '
Bonk' (length=5)
      'first_name' => string 'Radek' (length=5)
      'gender' => string 'Male' (length=4)
      'date_of_birth' => string '6/3/1975' (length=8)
      'favorite_color' => string 'Green' (length=5)
  8 => 
    array (size=5)
      'last_name' => string '
Bouillon' (length=9)
      'first_name' => string 'Francis' (length=7)
      'gender' => string 'Male' (length=4)
      'date_of_birth' => string '6/3/1975' (length=8)
      'favorite_color' => string '

Blue' (length=4)

So Far the output is ........

Kelly Sue Female 7/12/1959 Pink
Bishop Timothy Male 4/23/1967 Yellow
Abercrombie Neil Male 2/13/1943 Tan
Hingis Martina Female 4/2/1979 Green
Seles Monica Female 12/2/1973 Black
Kournikova Anna Female 6/3/1975 Red
Bonk Radek Male 6/3/1975 Green
Bouillon Francis Male 6/3/1975 Blue
Smith Steve Male 3/3/1985 Red

I want to sort the array by Females then Males, then by last_name asc ........

Hingis Martina Female 4/2/1979 Green
Kelly Sue Female 7/12/1959 Pink
Kournikova Anna Female 6/3/1975 Red
Seles Monica Female 12/2/1973 Black
Abercrombie Neil Male 2/13/1943 Tan
Bishop Timothy Male 4/23/1967 Yellow
Bonk Radek Male 6/3/1975 Green
Bouillon Francis Male 6/3/1975 Blue
Smith Steve Male 3/3/1985 Red

I also tried ......

function sortBy($field, &$array, $direction = 'asc') { 
usort($array, create_function('
$a, $b', ' $a = $a["' . $field . '"]; 
$b = $b["' . $field . '"]; 
if ($a == $b) { 
return 0; 
} 
return ($a ' . ($direction == 'desc' ? '>' : '<') .' $b) ? -1 : 1; ')); 
return true; 
} 

for ($i=0; $i < count($finalArray); $i++) { 
sortBy('gender', $finalArray); 
sortBy('last_name', $finalArray); 
echo join(' ', $finalArray[$i]) . '<br>'; 
}

I have tried array_multisort(), usort(), sort(), asort(), and I still couldn't produce the results I wanted. What solution can be used to produce the outcome?

Answer 1

The main issues in your code:

• You split by \r: it is better to split by \n which works on all platforms. But since a line-feed can be \r\n, you need to remove that other character as well. This you can do with trim(). So I would suggest to apply trim() to all values.
• The changeGender function looks weird. You can do all that with: return $gender === 'F' ? 'Female' : 'Male'.
• You might also want to skip empty lines in your input.
• You do your sorting in a loop on your array, that is wrong. That outer loop should be removed. If you need it for listing the data, then move the sorting out of it.

The corrected code (and also nicely indented) follows with my comments marked as //**:

$space_txt = './data/input/space.txt';
$comma_txt = './data/input/comma.txt';
$pipe_txt = './data/input/pipe.txt';

$parsed_space_data = file_get_contents($space_txt);
$parsed_comma_data = file_get_contents($comma_txt);
$parsed_pipe_data = file_get_contents($pipe_txt);

$space_array = myExpldeLoopFunc("space", " ", $parsed_space_data);
$comma_array = myExpldeLoopFunc("comma", ",", $parsed_comma_data);
$pipe_array = myExpldeLoopFunc("pipe", " | ", $parsed_pipe_data);

$finalArray = array_merge($space_array, $comma_array, $pipe_array);

function changeGender($gender) {
    return $gender === 'F' ? 'Female' : 'Male'; //** This is more straightforward
}

function normalizeDate($date) {
    return str_replace('-', '/', $date);
}

function myExpldeLoopFunc($name, $sep, $data) {
    $parsedData = explode("\n", $data); //** use "\n" instead of "\r"
    $arr = [];
    foreach ($parsedData as $data) {
        if ($data === "") continue; //** skip empty lines
        $data_arr = explode($sep, $data);
        if($name == 'space'){
            $arr[] = [
                "last_name" => trim($data_arr[0]), //** trim all elements (also removes "\r")
                "first_name" => trim($data_arr[1]),
                // "middle_initial" => trim($data_arr[2]),
                "gender" => changeGender(trim($data_arr[3])),
                "date_of_birth" => normalizeDate(trim($data_arr[4])),
                "favorite_color" => trim($data_arr[5])
            ];
        } elseif($name == 'comma') {
            $arr[] = [
                "last_name" => trim($data_arr[0]),
                "first_name" => trim($data_arr[1]),
                "gender" => trim($data_arr[2]),
                "date_of_birth" => normalizeDate(trim($data_arr[4])),
                "favorite_color" => trim($data_arr[3])
            ];
        } elseif ($name == 'pipe') {
            $arr[] = [
                "last_name" => trim($data_arr[0]),
                "first_name" => trim($data_arr[1]),
                // "middle_initial" => trim($data_arr[2]),
                "gender" => changeGender(trim($data_arr[3])),
                "date_of_birth" => normalizeDate(trim($data_arr[5])),
                "favorite_color" => trim($data_arr[4])
            ];
        }
    }
    return $arr;
}

//** Removed the bad for-loop that appeared here.
foreach ($finalArray as $key => $row) {
    $gender[$key] = $row['gender'];
    $last_name[$key] = $row['last_name'];
}
array_multisort($gender, SORT_ASC, $last_name, SORT_ASC, $finalArray);

//** Output in a loop, but leave the above sorting out of it 
foreach ($finalArray as $row) {
    echo join(' ',  $row) . "<br>\n";
}

print_r($finalArray);

See it run on eval.in which uses the sample data you provided.

The order is as desired.

Answer 2

Ok, I'll give an example, with two criteria, but it's untested on your data. So the compare() function below receives two arrays to compare. How to do that? Each array, in the example, contains two numbers, first we sort on the number with key = 0 and then on the number with key = 1. Your keys are, of course, different.

function compare($array1,$array2)
{
  // numbers at key 0 are equal
  if ($array1[0] == $array2[0])
  {
    // so we look at key 1.
    if ($array1[1] == $array2[1]) return 0;
    return ($array1[1] < $array2[1]) ? -1 : 1;
  }
  return ($array1[0] < $array2[0]) ? -1 : 1;
}

$a = [[1,2],[3,4],[5,4],[4,2],[1,8]];

usort($a,'compare');

foreach ($a as $key => $value)
{
  echo "<pre>$key: ".print_r($value,TRUE)."\n</pre>";
}

All you need to do is to adapt this to your case.

This sorts on two values in an array, both, as you would call it, ascending. Just change the < to > if you want one of them in decending order. The keys used here are 0 and 1, your keys are like gender and last_name.

Some values cannot be compared with the < comparison operator, so you would need to use something else. In case of the last_name you might want to use strcasecmp().